The UK has seen a significant amount of uproar in the past week after the government voted against giving free school meals to children during October half-term and Christmas holidays.
More than 300 Tory MPs voted against a motion brought forward by Labour, which followed a campaign launched by Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford, to help struggling families during the pandemic that rely on school meals to feed their children. The campaign had been successful during the summer but the government decided that they weren't going to back it this time.
The backlash against the government has been strong but some MPs have attempted to defend themselves but have only created more controversy. Ben Bradley, the Tory MP for Mansfield, caused outrage by claiming that the free school meal vouchers that were distributed in the summer was "£20 cash direct to a crack den and a brothel" in a series of tweets that have since been deleted. Screenshots of the tweets have since circulated with members of the shadow cabinet alarmed by what Bradley said.
A Conservative MP has said that free school meals are effectively a direct payment to brothels and drug dealers. N… https://t.co/SKaIZUJRkz— Angela Rayner (@Angela Rayner) 1603475711
Putting “£20 going to a crack den” aside. It alarms me that Ben Bradley knows there’s a child living in a brothel… https://t.co/7AkF8xTTAP— Dr Rosena Allin-Khan 💙 (@Dr Rosena Allin-Khan 💙) 1603530871
There has been so much criticism aimed at Bradley that some people weren't even checking if they were trolling the correct person. And it turned out there's another prominent Ben Bradley who is a news anchor and investigative reporter for WGN News in Chicago.
Inevitably he began receiving angry tweets from people carelessly tagging the wrong man. The American Bradley had no choice to tell the good people of Britain that he's not a member of parliament.
To the People of Great Britain- I AM NOT YOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT!! Love, A poor bloke in Chicago https://t.co/5vF3Ye9ydX— Ben Bradley (@Ben Bradley) 1603294256
This spawned a series of quite frankly excellent tweets from Bradley as people continued to mistake him for the Tory MP and he confirmed that he doesn't know who 'Farage' is (what a blissful world that must be).
I can assure you I am not a publicity seeker. And while we’re at it... I can also assure you I have no idea what… https://t.co/BViI5AUJTP— Ben Bradley (@Ben Bradley) 1603560929
He was even calling out people who were incorrectly tagging other Ben Bradleys (how many of these guys are there?)
Now you just incorrectly tagged a sports reporter in Nebraska. https://t.co/fNSJxq65Wd— Ben Bradley (@Ben Bradley) 1603563606
Trust us Ben, you really don't need to know what a 'c**kwomble' is.
I’m resisting the urge to Google the meaning of the word “cockwomble.” https://t.co/bZGBjOnCml— Ben Bradley (@Ben Bradley) 1603563672
Who knew you can say “cockwomble” on the radio in Britain??? Sounds far dirtier on this side of the pond. https://t.co/rzQPsWl9rF— Ben Bradley (@Ben Bradley) 1603673175
He revealed that this isn't anything new and has been happening for two years now.
It’s been happening for nearly 2 years. https://t.co/5xT4xIcKNb https://t.co/VrR4nLFGqs— Ben Bradley (@Ben Bradley) 1603570734
He's now quite possibly the internet's favourite Ben Bradley.
Thanks. If you all could move to Chicago and watch @WGNNews at 4pm... that would be outstanding. https://t.co/iLGi20Xkxz— Ben Bradley (@Ben Bradley) 1603646462
I’ll take that title over some of the creative monikers now being assigned to my namesake in England. https://t.co/twrZS3DmzG— Ben Bradley (@Ben Bradley) 1603653084
To cap things off he put together a simple tweet for anyone still confused as to which of them is a Tory MP and which is a news anchor in Chicago with a very good Twitter game.
Public service announcement to all of my new followers from Britain: Send your pothole and policy complaints to… https://t.co/YeDn7aplSO— Ben Bradley (@Ben Bradley) 1603673333
All in all, please remember to check that you are tagging the correct person on Twitter no matter the nature of the message as you'll be causing someone else a huge amount of headache.
In the meantime, the free school meals campaign has seen an overwhelming response from the public with businesses and councils across the country offering free meals to families in need.